Shiite Militias Cling to Basra and Stage Raids [View All]

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the 'bad guys' are winning....

BAGHDAD — Shiite militias in Basra openly controlled wide swathes of the city on Saturday and staged increasingly bold raids on Iraqi government forces sent in five days ago to wrest control from the gunmen, witnesses said, as Iraqi political leaders grew increasingly critical of the stalled assault.

Witnesses in Basra said that members of the most powerful militia in the city, the Mahdi Army, were setting up checkpoints and controlling traffic in many places ringing the central district controlled by some of the 30,000 Iraqi Army and police forces involved in the assault. Fighters were regularly attacking the government forces, then quickly retreating.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/world/middleeast/30iraq.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print